Google is introducing “The Customer Journey to Online Purchase” analytics report today, a new benchmarking tool that provides insight into the various elements impacting a single campaign. Leveraging data from 36,000 of their largest advertisers across 11 different industries in seven countries, Google’s new interactive analytics tool offers advertisers a broad view of online buying behaviors and interactions.

Using information from Ecommerce and Multi-Channel Funnels, the benchmark data illustrates how buyers move toward a purchase and the length of time it takes to make an online buying decision.

According to Google’s announcement, the benchmark report identifies how the purchase path differs between industries, citing that automotive display ad clicks tend to occur closer to the buying decision, while most online buyers click on display ads early in the purchase path. Google also claims that because of paid search’s assist-to-last interaction ratio, paid search is valuable in both the early and later stages of the buying cycle.

Other key insights from the benchmark data include the correlation between the time it takes to make a purchase and the value of the purchase. While most online purchases happen in a single day or with a single interaction, patterns show that high value purchases are usually associated with longer purchasing paths. Using an example from the tech industry, Google notes tech purchases that take 28 days are, on average, three times the cost of tech purchases that happen with a single interaction.

Google encourages analytics users to compare their data with relevant industry benchmark data to determine how different channels influence conversions and to see what their industry’s average path to purchase looks like.

About The Author

Amy Gesenhues is Third Door Media's General Assignment Reporter, covering the latest news and updates for Marketing Land and Search Engine Land. From 2009 to 2012, she was an award-winning syndicated columnist for a number of daily newspapers from New York to Texas. With more than ten years of marketing management experience, she has contributed to a variety of traditional and online publications, including MarketingProfs.com, SoftwareCEO.com, and Sales and Marketing Management Magazine. Read more of Amy's articles.